


End of the Road

by cywscross



Series: Tumblr Prompts 2015 [11]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Apocalypse, Character Death, Future Fic, Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 11:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3485774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cywscross/pseuds/cywscross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anonymous said: Oh! This looks fun! How about, both Apocalypse <strike>and Shortened lifespan KHR</strike> with Tsuna and co.? <strike>With like Tsuna being told he's supposed to sacrifice himself for both his family and the world?</strike></p>
            </blockquote>





	End of the Road

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, apologies first and foremost but my muse completely died midway through this prompt, and I’d usually try to power through, but I’ve been stuck on this one for ages and I’m not getting anywhere so I’m just going to end it with the apocalypse prompt. Basically, end game was going to be Tsuna being approached by Kawahira about how the jars aren’t working properly, and Tsuna would sacrifice himself to restore the world, and everyone may or may not forget him in the restored world, but I couldn’t get that far, so a drabble on KHR apocalypse is all you’re going to get.

 

When it first begins, Tsuna is at home. Most of his closest Family are gathered in his house for ‘bonding time’, as Reborn put it, instead of yet another crisis. His mom – thankfully – is away on a cruise with his dad, and they’ll all be graduating high school in a few weeks before moving to Italy afterwards, so they've decided (read: Reborn said so) to throw a party.

As expected, everything dissolves into absolute chaos within the first hour. Tsuna is frankly amazed to see his house still standing, though the porch doors, the television, the dining table, and a few walls are definitely going to need replacing.

It’s one in the afternoon by the time Tsuna manages to finish cooking lunch for everyone _and_ bribe/blackmail/nag/threaten/beg them into settling in the living room without someone trying to kill someone else (the latter task being infinitely harder than the former).

Reborn – the bastard – looks offensively amused by Tsuna’s plight.

Everybody is chatting or arguing, seated on couches or the floor or – in Kyouya’s case – the windowsill. It’s a day like any other day, and Tsuna has never been happier despite the stress of wrangling his friends whenever they get too rowdy.

But just as Tsuna is passing a glass of juice to Lambo, it happens.

His Intuition screams a warning. A moment of terrifying stillness falls. And then something _shatters_ at the back of his mind.

A second later, Tsuna jolts back into real time and promptly chokes on air, glass slipping from numb fingers and smashing against the floor even as his other hand reaches out blindly to grope for something to support him. His fingers catch on the back of an armchair, and it’s the only thing that prevents him from collapsing to the ground.

Distantly, he hears his friends yelp or call out startled exclamations, but Tsuna doesn’t so much as spare them a glance. Instead, when he finally manages to suck in enough oxygen back into his lungs to function, he lifts his head and staggers around to face the window, eyes instinctively flicking up to the beautiful spring sky above Kyouya’s head.

His Intuition is still shrieking at him. Something is _wrongwrongwrong_. Tsuna wants to take his people and run and never stop, but at the same time, he knows that it’s already too late.

“J- Jyuudaime?” Hayato interrupts almost tentatively, and when Tsuna slowly turns back, he sees everyone readying their respective weapons.

Tsuna almost laughs, but he holds it back because he knows that the sound would be hollow with horror.

Everything is _wrongwrongwrong_ , and it is already _too late_.

“Jyuudaime,” Hayato repeats, shoulders squaring like he’s preparing for battle. “What’s wrong? Is it an enemy? There’s no need to worry; I’ll get rid of them for you!”

Tsuna breathes. His chest feels too tight. He’s frozen in place, torn between running and staying, desperation and hopelessness. There’s no _point_ in running because there’s nowhere they can run to escape-

“Dame-Tsuna, _calm down_ ,” Reborn’s voice cuts through the terror gripping his mind and drags him back into the present. Black eyes meet his, and even though Tsuna knows that his tutor has no idea what’s going on, there’s something comforting about the calm composure staring back at him.

He inhales again, deeper this time, and something in him settles. He doesn’t know exactly what it is that’s made the world go _wrong_ , but even if nowhere is safe, they can’t stay here, and right now, Tsuna is the only one who can guide them.

Okay, so.

“Hayato, Takeshi,” Tsuna says, and he almost doesn't recognize his own voice. His eyes are probably the colour of Sky flames now, and his Storm and Rain respond accordingly, both straightening up to attention. “I need you to go find some bags, and then I need you to pack all the necessities you can find in this house. Food, water, blankets, clothes. Raid Mom and Dad’s closets if you have to; we might have time to stop by a store or something to pick up other clothes that will fit everyone else, but you guys won’t be able to go home.”

Everyone looks utterly bewildered. Reborn is frowning at him. Tsuna is still trying not to panic despite having shoved that part of himself aside for the moment.

“Tsuna, what’s going on?” Reborn asks directly, subtle agitation stiffening the line of his teenage body’s shoulders. “Why do we have to leave?”

Tsuna swallows. Looks again out the window. Kyouya has risen to his feet, and his eyes are narrowed. He too is staring out the window.

“Can’t you hear it?” Tsuna whispers, and Kyouya is the one he looks at when everybody glances at him again. Kyouya knows Namimori like the back of his hand, and on some level, his alarm bells are already ringing.

“I... can’t hear anything,” Takeshi admits, scratching at one cheek with more than a little confusion. Ken, with his animal instincts, suddenly tenses up, head cocking.

Tsuna surveys them all. “Exactly.” He pauses for a second, and it is terrifyingly silent. “It’s too quiet.”

He’s right. There are no birds chirping, no breeze whistling, no distant growl of cars.

Kyouya straightens. A twitch of his hands has his tonfas appearing in them, but before he can move, Tsuna cuts in.

“Kyouya, no,” Tsuna doesn't flinch when Kyouya slices a steel-edged glare at him. “I’m sorry, I know this is your town to protect, but please. I need all of us to stay together.”

His voice wavers halfway through the last sentence, his mind conjuring the horrible thought of what it would be like to lose even one of the people here, and he feels like he’s on the brink of a panic attack, but he has to keep it together for his friends.

Kyouya’s expression tightens, but after a moment, he tucks his weapons away and stalks towards the kitchen.

“Herbivores,” He snaps out as he passes Ryouhei and Lambo. “We’re going to fill all the water bottles in this house. Hurry up.”

Ryouhei and Lambo both look baffled but they scramble after Kyouya after another glance at Tsuna. Even they can feel the underlying anxiety that Tsuna is undoubtedly exuding.

Tsuna releases a shaky breath before rounding on Hayato and Takeshi again. “We need to be quick. We need to- we need to leave, like _five minutes ago_. I can’t explain but-”

His very first two friends are already nodding, and there is not a single insult or laugh as they both hit the stairs at a dead run.

Tsuna turns back to the others. There is something grim in the line of Mukuro’s mouth. He doesn't know what’s going on either, but he’s smart enough to realize that Tsuna is not joking, no matter how vague he’s being, that Tsuna would never joke about something like this, and he’s lived through enough to believe the worst even without a proper explanation.

“Ken, Chikusa, go gather the thickest but lightweight blankets you can find,” He orders briskly. “Chrome, I believe we’ll help the skylark in the kitchen. Dry foods will do, yes, Tsunayoshi?”

Tsuna nods, relieved, and the rest of his Family scatters. The moment they’re gone, he wheels around again, trying to figure out where they’ll go after they leave. There is nowhere to run-

And oh. Oh god. What about I-Pin, on vacation with Fon? What about Kyoko, Haru, and Hana, whisked off to Italy by Bianchi for a holiday, along with Fuuta and Lancia? What about his parents? What about the Varia? Shouichi and Spanner? The other former Arcobaleno? The Simon? Byakuran and his people? Yuni and hers? What about-

“ _Tsuna_ ,” Reborn repeats, and there is something far more menacing in his voice this time. “Tell me what is going on, _right now_.”

Tsuna cranes his head around to meet Reborn’s dark gaze, and if he didn’t know the hitman so well, he would've missed the apprehension in his tutor’s eyes.

“I don’t know,” Tsuna murmurs hoarsely. “Something- Something’s gone _wrong_ with the world, Reborn. Everything- Everything is _dying_.”

Reborn goes very, very still. Leon shifts restlessly from foot to foot on the brim of the hitman’s fedora.

“What do you mean by that?” Reborn asks, still as determinedly unruffled as usual. “What exactly did your Intuition tell you?”

This time, Tsuna does laugh, ragged and humourless, and the hurried rustling from both the kitchen and upstairs stop for a moment, leaving only that awful empty silence again.

“It’s _still_ telling me, Reborn, and it’s telling me that we have to run,” Tsuna forces out through gritted teeth. “But- But at the same time, it’s telling me that we have nowhere _left_ to run. The world’s gone _wrong_. It’s-” He breaks off, thinking back to that splintering feeling at the back of his mind, the way it made his heart stop, as if his very soul was trembling, and his _Flames_ -

He hastily snaps his fingers, and to his relief, an orange Flame blossoms on one finger. Yet...

“I think...” He works out slowly with growing horror. “I think something’s gone wrong with the Tri-ni-set. Reborn, I think it’s- I think it’s _gone_.”

Reborn freezes. His eyes widen before narrowing much like Kyouya’s did. “...You’re sure?”

And now that Tsuna’s said it out loud, he is, and oh _hell_ , what exactly does that mean for the rest of the world? “Yes. Yes I’m sure.”

Reborn doesn't ask again. Instead, he reaches up for Leon, who’s already transforming into a cell phone, and at the same time, he barks out in the general direction of the rest of the house, “You heard your Boss – hurry up!”

Everybody dives back into their respective jobs with double the fervour, bursts of terse conversation rising and falling as they all work in tandem, a reaction borne from both the urgency in _Reborn’s_ voice of all people, as well as the shocking clarification that Tsuna just gave.

For a moment, Tsuna wants to help too, but there are already enough hands packing, and he’s the one with the Intuition, which means when they leave this house, he’s going to have to be the one to get them to safety.

 _But there is no safety, not anymore_.

Tsuna tunes that thought out and tears open a drawer instead, pulling out all the maps inside and spreading open one of Namimori to start planning out an escape route with a pen.

Peripherally, he hears Reborn mumbling a curse under his breath before ducking out of the room, only to return two minutes later, joining Tsuna on the floor with the maps.

“There’s no reception,” Reborn tells him flatly as soon as Tsuna glances up. “Not with any of the phones in this house, not with my cells, not even with Leon.”

Tsuna draws in another breath that feels like broken glass in his throat. “There-” He closes his eyes and opens up his Intuition as wide as he can, like a net in the ocean, catching as many fish as possible. “I don’t think there will be. Reborn, it’s like- _everything’s dying_. It’s... No, more accurately,” He opens his eyes. “It’s like everything’s _ending_.”

Reborn’s lips thin. “You’re saying we’re heading into an apocalypse.”

Tsuna shakes his head. “No. I’m saying, we’re _already_ _living it_ , Reborn. The world ended-” He checks the clock, and Reborn follows his line of sight. Chillingly enough, even though Tsuna isn’t surprised at seeing evidence of it, the hands have stopped. “-seven minutes and thirty-two seconds ago. Everything else is just... catching up.”

Reborn’s gaze stays glued on the impossible clock, features blank. There’s a thunk, and when they turn, Lambo is standing in the doorway with water-filled in his eyes, a filled duffel bag at his feet.

“The world’s ending?” Lambo’s voice is very tiny. Tsuna is on his feet and across the room in a flash, wrapping the boy up in a hug. Lambo doesn't burst into tears or wail, but the front of Tsuna’s shirt grows damp anyway as the boy presses his face into it.

“It’s going to be alright,” Tsuna assures him, and he’s not sure who he’s trying to convince more. His Intuition has been telling him that it’s already too late since Tsuna dropped that glass of juice.

“B- But what about I-Pin?” Lambo sniffles when he pulls back. “ _I’m_ not scared, I’m the great- the great Lambo-san, and I have Tsuna-nii, but _what about I-Pin_?”

“I-Pin’s with Fon, and Fon won’t let anything happen to her,” Tsuna says, and he hopes to god he isn’t lying, because Fon doesn’t have the Vongola Intuition. Will- _Did_ the former Storm Arcobaleno even see this coming?

But he can’t afford to worry about that right now. He needs to- He needs to get the people he has here with him out first.

Out to _where_ is another question that Tsuna doesn’t have an answer to.

“Jyuudaime, we’re done!” Hayato leaps the last five steps, skidding back into the room with three stuffed bags. Takeshi follows at his heels, another three bags in hand.

“Tsuna, my dad,” Takeshi starts, and Tsuna’s already nodding, detaching himself from Lambo and handing the boy off to Chrome who’s just re-entered the room wearing a backpack.

“Yeah, I was thinking we’d stop by Takesushi before getting out of town.”

“Kyoko’s in Italy with the other girls!” Ryouhei interjects, looking uncharacteristically sombre as he also returns with four bags on his back.

“I know, but-” Tsuna bites his lip. “There won’t be any planes flying out. I don’t think there’ll be-” _–people left to fly them_. “-any functioning planes, and even if there are, I don’t know how-”

“If we can secure a plane,” Reborn butts in curtly. “I can pilot it.”

His gaze slides over to meet Tsuna’s, sharing a moment of understanding. It doesn't matter how well Reborn can fly planes if the planes themselves have stopped working like the clocks and phones.

“Then we really should be going,” Mukuro glides in, carrying three bags of his own, and Tsuna didn't even know he owned this many bags. Ken and Chikusa join them as well, each with two lumpy bags of – presumably – hastily folded blankets. Kyouya is the last to rejoin them, appearing in the doorway behind Mukuro with three bags of his own over one shoulder, and Hibird perched on the other.

“Omnivore,” Kyouya’s expression brooks no argument. “We will be picking up Tetsu first.”

Tsuna nods without hesitation. Of course. But the rest of this town...

“Stop over-thinking,” Reborn reprimands him, whisking all the maps into one of Hayato’s bags before slinging that over his shoulders. “Now’s not the time.”

Tsuna bends down to pick up Lambo’s bag so that the youngest amongst them won’t be weighed down if – _when_ – they have to run. He straightens and scans the room before nodding, stomping down on the dread twisting his gut.

“Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

The end of the world finds them six minutes out the door. They don’t even make it to Takesushi despite the quick jog they've paced themselves at.

They pass by no one until they’ve turned down two blocks. A gaggle of teenagers – younger than them – are heading in the opposite direction.

Tsuna is speaking before he can stop himself. “You should- You should come with us!” He calls out even though he knows he’ll just sound like a crazy nut. “There’s something dangerous coming!”

They all give him weird looks.

“Hey,” One of the girls sneers. “Aren’t you that ‘Dame-Tsuna’? You're-”

They don’t get any further than that as Kyouya stalks forward and slams a tonfa against a telephone pole to get their attention. They all shut up.

“You will pack necessities and leave town,” Kyouya orders them. “Go.”

They don’t _go_ , so much as they _flee_.

“They’re not going to do it, are they?” Chrome pipes up as they all watch the group of students scurry away.

Nobody says anything in reply. Kyouya looks away, looks out at _his_ town, but when the group continues moving again, the Cloud Guardian falls into step beside them.

Tsuna understands. Hibari Kyouya has two priorities these days, but right now, he can only pick one. Tsuna will be forever grateful that the skylark has chosen them over Namimori.

They pass other people, twos and threes and fours, and this time, they don’t bother stopping until-

They're cutting across a park when something not quite the wind stirs past them. Tsuna freezes in his tracks, and the others halt as well, all looking to him.

Tsuna whirls around and stares out across the park. There is a woman at the other end, fiddling with her iPod or phone with a scowl on her face.

And beyond her, the very air itself _ripples_.

“Hey!” Tsuna shouts, taking two steps forward. “Hey, you have to run!”

The woman turns with a puzzled frown, mouth opening to holler something back.

It’s too late, and this time, Tsuna knows that all his friends can sense it too.

Everything goes still first. And then, with frightening speed, something invisible rushes forward, an ominous wave rolling towards them from just beyond the other end of the park like an ocean’s tide, except instead of bringing water, it brings death.

It hits the edge of the park, and in the blink of an eye, the grass, the trees, _everything it touches_ , dies. The grass yellows to the colour of old hay. Leaves wilt, branches crumble. Even the metal and wood of the park bench rusts and decays as if someone’s hit the fast-forward button on life.

But the most frightening thing of all is when the invisible surge reaches the woman. There is no spray of blood, no flash of fancy lights, no fanfare whatsoever. The woman doesn't even have time to scream. She simply crumples like a puppet with its strings cut, dead before she even hits the ground, and the wave just keeps on coming, never slowing for an instant.

It’s Ken who sums it up best as they all watch on with frozen morbid fascination. “We’re _fucked_ , byon.”

Tsuna about-faces and roars, “ _RUN!!_ ”

They run, as if the hounds of hell are snapping at their heels.

Maybe they are.

 

* * *

 

Hayato is fumbling with his ring and Vongola Gear even as they sprint down another street. A moment later, his Bone Loops spring into existence. “Everybody on!”

Nobody hesitates as they jump onto the disc of Storm flames, and like this, flying through the air, they move much faster than they did on foot.

That doesn't say much since the wave of death behind them is still gaining ground, but at least it isn’t closing the distance as fast as before.

“There’s my place!” Takeshi is crouching at the front, brow knitted with worry.

Hayato speeds up as much as possible, and they hurtle over the roof of the sushi restaurant before looping down to the front of the building.

“Dad!” Takeshi is already yelling. “It’s me! We have to go! We have to go now! Dad!”

It takes an agonizing five seconds before Tsuyoshi steps out of the restaurant, drying his hands on a washcloth. He blinks when he sees them floating in the air. “What- Takeshi? What’s going on?”

“We don’t have time,” Takeshi all but begs, already holding out a hand, and looking two seconds away from leaping off. “We have to go, come _on_ , Dad!”

Tsuyoshi clearly hasn't the faintest clue what’s happening, but he picks up on the fright in his son’s voice, and the tension in the group, and without further protest, he heads over at a hurried run, not even bothering to ask about closing the restaurant or packing.

It is too late.

Half a second later, death hits, and the entire Yamamoto resident, restaurant and all, groans and rots and collapses in on itself. The people inside aren’t even worth mentioning anymore.

“DAD, _HURRY!_ ” Takeshi screams, true terror unfolding across his face.

It is too late.

Tsuyoshi jerks and looks back when Takesushi disintegrates, and that second of hesitation proves to be fatal. Even as the man lunges and catches Takeshi’s outstretched hand, something in his expression changes, like he _knows_ that his death is coming, and he knows how it will come, and in that single heartbeat, Tsuyoshi visibly changes his mind.

He looks up at Takeshi, face as tranquil as the surface of a lake on a summer day, and then, without warning, he wrenches his hand back and out of his son’s grip so that they are no longer touching.

Tsuna forgets to breathe even as he rocks forward, his own hands reaching out but missing Tsuyoshi’s sleeve by half an inch. Takeshi’s mouth is open in a shocked _no_.

It is too late.

The invisible torrent reaches Tsuyoshi, and both Takeshi and Tsuna are close enough to see the light in the older man’s eyes sputter out like a guttered candle. They watch Tsuyoshi fall, and Tsuna could swear that he feels something icy brush his fingertips right before Hayato – swearing up a storm – yanks them away just in time, sending them careening sideways and almost crashing into the side of another building before the dynamite specialist forcefully hauls them back on course again, and then they're off once more, tearing away from the plague behind them.

“NO!!” Takeshi snaps out of it and throws himself forward like he wants to jump ship. Tsuna, Ryouhei, and Chikusa, the closest to the swordsman, all catch him by the arms and heave him back, struggling to pin him down. “GO BACK!! GO BACK!! HAYATO, PLEASE!! YOU HAVE TO GO BACK!! MY DAD’S STILL BACK THERE!! _YOU HAVE TO GO BACK!!_ ”

In the middle of trying to wrestle Takeshi down, Tsuna catches a glimpse of Hayato’s face. The bomber is white as a sheet, and there is an unnatural shine to his eyes, but he doesn't otherwise react. He doesn't even look back. He simply races on, his Storm flames powering them forward as fast as he can produce them. His hands are fisted and white-knuckled but he doesn't stop.

“C- Calm down!” Ryouhei bellows over Takeshi’s hysterical yelling and frantic thrashing. Helpless grief lines his features, and he looks _scared_ , something Tsuna never, never wants to see but can no longer un-see. “Yamamoto, you have to-”

Ryouhei almost gets socked in the jaw, and then the rest of his attention is needed to keep Takeshi from throwing the boxer clean off. On the opposite side, Chikusa has a grimace on his face, and Ken’s joined in, both of them practically halfway sitting on the Rain Guardian. Tsuna gets the baseball player’s legs, and his eyes are blurry with tears – _stupid, useless tears_ – and he doesn't know what to say to make any of this better.

Something wings past his left ear and pierces the side of Takeshi’s neck. Three seconds later, the teenager goes mercifully limp, out cold from the tranquilizer dart courtesy of Reborn. The hitman’s fedora shadows his eyes but Tsuna can see the thin bleak line of his mouth anyway.

Shuddering, Tsuna falls back on his ass, running a hand through his hair. Ryouhei looks distraught as he rubs a hand over his face. Both Chikusa and Ken are silent. Neither Kyouya nor Mukuro are looking at anyone, both staring straight ahead instead with impassive bearing. Beside her Mist counterpart, Chrome has a hand clapped over her mouth, and her single widened eye is already spilling over with tears. Lambo is nestled into her side, hiccupping with the occasional sob, but it’s obvious that he’s trying to be quiet.

Tsuna’s fingers tighten painfully in his hair for a moment before he lets go and looks up again. “Hayato, straight to Kusakabe-san’s house,” He instructs with a steadiness that he doesn’t know where he managed to dig up from, and the bomber latches onto it like a lifeline.

“...It would be more practical to leave town immediately,” Kyouya says, and more than one person turns to gape at the prefect for what he’s suggesting. The Cloud Guardian doesn't so much as twitch; his features may as well have been carved out of stone.

Tsuna clambers to his feet, roughly scrubbing a sleeve over his eyes before resolutely squaring his shoulders. “No, we’re going to go pick up Kusakabe-san. I’m not- I’m not leaving any of my people behind.”

_Not more than I have to anyway._

Kyouya doesn't respond, but his shoulder muscles loosen imperceptibly, and that’s as good as a heartfelt tearful thank-you from the prefect.

Tsuna still feels awful, and when Takeshi wakes up, there is going to a boatload of emotional issues to deal with, but right now, all he can do is whatever he can. Not even Reborn can give him much advice now; Tsuna is the one who has even a general gist of the situation – of this new hell they've found themselves in – and he’s the one who’s going to have to pull them through to the end.

 

* * *

 

Kusakabe is already on the street in front of his house by the time they get there, a bag over his shoulder, and a phone in one hand. He tucks his phone away as soon as he sees them coming, and he looks relieved even though he fights that emotion down as he nods respectfully at Kyouya before joining them on the Storm disc.

“I saw the corpses on my way home from the convenience store,” He says without being prompted. “I was going to call you, Kyou-san, but all the phone lines are down.”

Somebody screams in the distance. Yells. Cries. Panic has been spiking since the bodies began to drop, and even now, Kyouya looks like he dearly wants to murder something.

Problem is, there’s no target Tsuna can aim him at.

The one bright side to all this is that the death wave seems to come and go – appear and disappear and reappear – at random times, from random directions. The one on their tail has subsided for the time being, but judging by the fact that – in the far distance to their left – they can literally see three blocks of residences topple like dominoes, whatever it is that’s destroying the world will be after them again before long.

Tsuna sucks in a shaky breath. Half of him wants to stay and help the civilians, but the other half... this is happening worldwide – that much he’s certain of – and there is nowhere that will be safe. Tsuna has a funny feeling that even once they're in the air...

“Hayato, Namimori airport,” Tsuna orders, beating down the little boy inside him that wants to cry. “We have to get out of Japan and regroup with the others-” _If the others are still alive-_ “-in Italy.”

Hayato looks pained. Most of them do. Mukuro has an arm wrapped around Chrome’s shoulders.

Kyouya glances back at Tsuna with something unsettlingly close to desperation. “We will take one plane and fit as many civilian passengers as we can on it.”

It’s a compromise that Tsuna gladly agrees to.

 

* * *

 

Except they don’t make it to the airport without incident.

“Shit shit _shit!_ ” Hayato cusses as his box weapon carries over them rooftops at a speed that has the rest of them clinging to the edges to stay on. Behind them, the unseen entity is back and faster than ever, a starving beast locked on to its next meal.

Tsuna, crouching near the back with one knee shoved rudely in Takeshi’s gut to keep him onboard, keeps his eyes on the thing chasing them. He can _almost_ see it but not quite, tangible but not, so what if...

“Reborn!” Tsuna shouts over Lambo’s screech when Hayato takes a sharp turn to avoid the porch of somebody’s house. “Can you fire a Chaos shot? I want to see what it does!”

Reborn is already raising his Leon-gun before Tsuna finishes, and without delay, he fires his signature bright yellow streaks of flames at their pursuer.

Their pursuer _eats_ it. Or at the very least, it gives the impression of doing so. Reborn’s Sun flames crumble like fine faerie dust the second it meets the oncoming storm. The shot doesn't even slow the thing down.

“Tch,” Reborn clicks his tongue in annoyance. Only Reborn can sound annoyed in the middle of an apocalypse. “Any other ideas?”

Tsuna grimaces before calling over his shoulder, “Mukuro! Chrome! Can you hide us but create a decoy and see if it’ll chase that? See if it breaks off if there’s a different target!”

His Mist Guardians don’t need to be told twice. Chrome works on defense, cloaking them with Mist flames, while Mukuro constructs a replica of their group that veers off to the far right and keeps on going. Hayato throws a fistful of Storm flames after it to give it an extra boost, just in case the entity behind them is targeting the greatest output of flames, but it makes no difference. As they leave the red herring behind, the Mist and Storm flames are simply swallowed up once the wave reaches it. Nothing changes.

Well, not much anyway, except-

“It’s too small,” Tsuna murmurs to himself. The thing that’s chasing them – it’s huge, and about as stoppable as the ebb and flow of the sea.

But even water is delayed when there’s a dam in the way.

Tsuna stands. “Hayato.”

Hayato glances back, and he looks wary. “Yeah, Boss?”

Tsuna is already lighting up his ring.   “Take everyone to the airport, okay?”

A beat of silence. “...Jyuudaime?”

Sky flames swirl into existence in his gloved hands, and when he looks back, it is with the steady resolve of the Sky he embodies.

“This is an order, Hayato,” Tsuna says quietly. “Take our Family to the airport, find a plane, start loading people into it, and figure out how to get it into the air if it’s stopped working.” He feels Natsu stirring, baring fangs and claws, ready to fight. He takes a step back to the very edge of the disc. “I’ll stay behind and buy you guys some time.”

There is an instantaneous uproar at this, all variations of a big fat NO.

“There’s no time to argue!” Tsuna barks over their raised voices. “What good will it do if we get to the airport with this thing still behind us? I’ll catch up! Get the plane in the air, have the hatch open, and I’ll catch up! Now _go!_ ”

He doesn't wait for an affirmative before he throws himself off their makeshift ride, and then he’s off, Sky flames twining behind him as he shoots up into the air, higher and higher and higher until the air begins to thin.

And then he lets himself fall, headfirst.

“Natsu,” Tsuna brings his hands up. “Cambio Forma: Modo Difesa.”

The cloak flares behind him, and that’s when Tsuna lets his Sky flames go, pours it into his cloak and then lets his expand on all sides – as far as the eye can see – even as he hurtles back towards the ground. He doesn't need to look to know that a wall of orange is solidifying behind him, a thick barrier of flames that will hopefully hinder even death for a while.

A flicker of purple catches his eye. Tsuna swears.

“Kyouya, what are you doing here?” He demands as soon as he lands with an earthshaking crack beside his Cloud Guardian.

Kyouya barely spares him a glance as he activates his box weapon, and a moment later, the propagation property of his flames has multiplied his Cloud hedgehogs to the point where they're forming a second wall right behind Tsuna’s, reinforcing it and buying that much more time for their Family.

“This is my town,” Kyouya intones flatly. “If anyone has to stay behind, it should be me. Besides,” He scoffs, lifting his gaze to scan the double wall that’s already rapidly dissolving under the strain of holding back the end of humanity. “The baby wanted to stay but he would be useless in this situation. I was obviously the more logical choice.”

Tsuna hears all the things his Cloud Guardian isn’t saying of course – everything from Reborn refusing to leave Tsuna without at least one Family member at his side to Kyouya himself putting his foot down and probably jumping off Hayato’s Storm discs before anyone could argue.

Tsuna shakes his head but he smiles at the prefect in wordless gratitude. If he’s honest, he doesn't want to be left alone, not in a dying world.

Kyouya makes a noncommittal noise before turning for the nearest street. “We should go.”

Tsuna nods, and together, they break out into a run, heading in the direction of the airport even as the improvised walls behind them shudder and begin to yield.

 

* * *

 

In the end, they barely make it out of Japan alive. As Tsuna predicted, just being high up in the air is not enough. The entire world is falling to pieces, and whatever supernatural epidemic is spreading all over the globe can literally appear _anywhere_.

Tsuna has to fly Kyouya up to the plane, only to end up throwing the Cloud Guardian through the hatch before diving out of the way just as another wave of death falls from the sky, washes over part of the plane, and rusts away an entire wing.

Mukuro is up and leaning out in a heartbeat, real illusions replacing the missing parts as fast as he can conjure them. Reborn is out of sight and in the cockpit, managing as best he can, and the airplane is filled with people screaming their heads off.

Considering the fact that one wrong move in the air will cost him his life if death decides to snatch him up, Tsuna’s sympathy for the civilians is understandably lacking, and he actually misses Vongola’s penchant for insanity, if only because nobody ever faces anything worth screaming about anymore, not with the chaos they stir up all by themselves.

Eventually, the death wave does recede again, leaving a partially crippled plane held together by illusions and fast-depleting hope. But nobody dies this time, and for that at least, Tsuna has something to be grateful for.

 

* * *

 

“What will we do?” Reborn asks in low tones in the privacy of the cockpit where it’s just the two of them. The others are in the back, keeping watch or keeping the civilian passengers calm.

Tsuna can hear a lot of them crying.

It’s a testament to just how out of their depths they all are that Reborn would stoop to asking a question like that.

“I don’t know,” Tsuna replies, equally honest, equally bleak.

Reborn’s lips thin but he doesn't do anything besides adjust their flight course a little, black eyes focused on the dim skies outside the windows. It’s neither sunny anymore nor entirely overcast. Everything’s just... muted, as if someone cloaked everything in grey.

“We’ll have to drop them off somewhere,” Reborn eventually says, ruthlessly blunt. Tsuna doesn't need clarification over who ‘them’ are. “Survival is harder with more people.”

“They’ll all die if we just leave them!” Tsuna can’t help protesting. “And Kyouya would never-”

“They’ll die even if they stay with us,” Reborn cuts him off harshly. “Do you think we can protect them forever? We have no safe destination, no communication lines, limited food, limited weapons, no sure-fire method to defeat whatever the hell’s after us, and not even a way to predict when or where we’ll be attacked. Right now, we don’t even have a goal beyond _running away_.

“It’s the _apocalypse_ , Tsuna,” Something akin to a sardonically amused sort of disbelief flickers across the hitman’s face. “And only the strong will survive.”

Tsuna grits his teeth hard enough that his jaw begins to ache. He says nothing more, turning to look out the window instead, at the living nightmare that their world has been plunged into.

The worst thing of all – he knows Reborn is right.

 

**Author's Note:**

> **Please leave a review on your way out.**


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